Far from being the serene, natural streams of yore, modern rivers have been diverted, dammed, dumped in, and dried up, all in efforts to harness their power for human needs. But these rivers have also undergone environmental change. The old adage says you can’t step in the same river twice, and Ellen Wohl would agree—natural and synthetic change are so rapid on the world’s great waterways that rivers are transforming and disappearing right before our eyes.

A World of Rivers explores the confluence of human and environmental change on ten of the great rivers of the world. Ranging from the Murray-Darling in Australia and the Yellow River in China to Central Europe’s Danube and the United States’ Mississippi, the book journeys down the most important rivers in all corners of the globe. Wohl shows us how pollution, such as in the Ganges and in the Ob of Siberia, has affected biodiversity in the water. But rivers are also resilient, and Wohl stresses the importance of conservation and restoration to help reverse the effects of human carelessness and hubris.

What all these diverse rivers share is a critical role in shaping surrounding landscapes and biological communities, and Wohl’s book ultimately makes a strong case for the need to steward positive change in the world’s great rivers.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Ellen Wohl is professor of geosciences at Colorado State University and the author of, most recently, Of Rock and Rivers: Seeking a Sense of Place in the American West.

REVIEWS

“Excellent. . . . Wohl, a fluvial geoscientist, does a superb job of linking the flow of geomorphic structure of rivers with a more encompassing examination of their ecology, history, and culture. . . . Highly recommended.”

— J. H. Thorp III, Choice

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

1 A Round River 1

2 The Amazon: Rivers of Blushing Dolphins

Interlude

3 The Ob: Killing Grandmother

Interlude

4 The Nile: Lifeline in the Desert

Interlude

5 The Danube: Remnants of Beauty

Interlude

6 The Ganges: Eternally Pure?

Interlude

7 The Mississippi: Once and Future River

Interlude

8 The Murray-Darling: Stumbling in the Waltz

Interlude

9 The Congo: River That Swallows All Rivers

Interlude

10 The Chang Jiang: Bridling a Dragon

Interlude

11 The Mackenzie: River on the Brink

12 An Ebbing Flow

Selected Bibliographic Sources

Index

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who has a disability that prevents you
from using this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the disability coordinator at your school fill out this form.

Far from being the serene, natural streams of yore, modern rivers have been diverted, dammed, dumped in, and dried up, all in efforts to harness their power for human needs. But these rivers have also undergone environmental change. The old adage says you can’t step in the same river twice, and Ellen Wohl would agree—natural and synthetic change are so rapid on the world’s great waterways that rivers are transforming and disappearing right before our eyes.

A World of Rivers explores the confluence of human and environmental change on ten of the great rivers of the world. Ranging from the Murray-Darling in Australia and the Yellow River in China to Central Europe’s Danube and the United States’ Mississippi, the book journeys down the most important rivers in all corners of the globe. Wohl shows us how pollution, such as in the Ganges and in the Ob of Siberia, has affected biodiversity in the water. But rivers are also resilient, and Wohl stresses the importance of conservation and restoration to help reverse the effects of human carelessness and hubris.

What all these diverse rivers share is a critical role in shaping surrounding landscapes and biological communities, and Wohl’s book ultimately makes a strong case for the need to steward positive change in the world’s great rivers.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Ellen Wohl is professor of geosciences at Colorado State University and the author of, most recently, Of Rock and Rivers: Seeking a Sense of Place in the American West.

REVIEWS

“Excellent. . . . Wohl, a fluvial geoscientist, does a superb job of linking the flow of geomorphic structure of rivers with a more encompassing examination of their ecology, history, and culture. . . . Highly recommended.”

— J. H. Thorp III, Choice

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

1 A Round River 1

2 The Amazon: Rivers of Blushing Dolphins

Interlude

3 The Ob: Killing Grandmother

Interlude

4 The Nile: Lifeline in the Desert

Interlude

5 The Danube: Remnants of Beauty

Interlude

6 The Ganges: Eternally Pure?

Interlude

7 The Mississippi: Once and Future River

Interlude

8 The Murray-Darling: Stumbling in the Waltz

Interlude

9 The Congo: River That Swallows All Rivers

Interlude

10 The Chang Jiang: Bridling a Dragon

Interlude

11 The Mackenzie: River on the Brink

12 An Ebbing Flow

Selected Bibliographic Sources

Index

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who has a disability that prevents you
from using this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the disability coordinator at your school fill out this form.